1940's Bra Sew-Along Giveaway Winners!

Happy weekend, my lovely readers!
I have had the most delightful day and I hope your Friday has been just as lovely. I had a dear friend over for afternoon tea today and I got up bright and early to try out an new recipe as well. I'm so glad I did, because the Zucchini Coconut Bread that came out of it was simply heaven. I used a recipe found on Pinterest from a blog called Two Peas & Their Pod and I can't recommend it enough. It was rich, moist, and incredible smothered with European butter.

Image courtesy of Two Peas & Their Pod

If you hadn't already heard, I'm a huge foody and if I'm not working on drafting sewing patterns, I'm either cooking or baking up a storm (and reading ravenously whilst things simmer). If you're a foodie too, you can find my Pinterest Board of favorite recipes here.





But now it's time to announce the three lucky winners of the 1940's bra pattern giveaway!

Our three winners (as chosen by random.org's random number generator) are Judy Cinerari, OnePerfectDay, and LivingVintage.etsy . And our fourth surprise winner, because I'm just in that kind of mood, is Bex!
Ladies, if you could email me your contact info at afewthreadsloose@gmail.com, I can send you your prizes!

I'll post later this weekend about the materials we'll need for our bra-making sew-along, as well as where you can find them. We're going at a slower pace for the sew-along because a lot of our participants might be buying their supplies overseas and shipping can take a bit of time. I want to make sure you've got everything you need before we start so you don't feel like you have to play catch-up!

In the meantime, if you decide to get a head start, here is a coupon code for $3.50 off of the price of the digital bra pattern at MrsDepew.com:
SEWALONGSALLY.
The coupon code will work until November 30th.

Happy sewing!

Sewing #610... Repurposing Blouses to Make Bras!

 Hello my dear readers. In our last Sewing #610 post I mentioned that I was waiting for some silk to arrive in the mail so I could finish my bra lining. I'm still waiting. So I got fed up, threw a small hissy fit, and then had an idea. I drove on down to my favorite little thrift shop in Monterey and bought a  silk blouse for $1.
It's black like I wanted and 3 times the silk I need to sew a bra. Jackpot! I may or may not have purchased half a dozen silk blouses to add to my bra-making stash.

Now, since it's not the right configuration of fabric for me to cut my bra on a fold, instead, I'll have to cut the bra on a seam, like below.

Just imagine, instead of a trip to a fabric store (the nearest for me is an hour away!) you can pop on down to a thrift shop and get some fabric from a clothing rack. What an environmentally friendly way to make your lingerie!

(I apologize for the quality of these pictures - black silk is really hard to photograph!).

Recycling a silk blouse for bra-making.

Now if you ever want to give this a try (I highly recommend it!) then be sure to press the seam before you match it to your center front of the pattern piece. Any little bits that aren't pressed straight can really throw off the fit of your bra.
Also, make sure that your blouse hasn't been cut on the bias!

I also decided to make a small embellishment to the front of the black bra piece once it was cut out.

If you do this, be sure to take into account your seam allowance at the top edge and avoid marking too close to it.

I marked some evenly spaced dots down the center front and then, before joining my bra and lining together, I embroidered three French knots in the same color of blue as my outer piece.

My blue French knots look almost like tiny buttons from a distance.

Now my bra outer and lining are nearly ready to be joined together.

Up next? Bra straps and back closures!

Sewing #610... Sewing the bust darts.

Aaaaand we're back with more bra sewing! At this point, we've drafted our pattern and cut out our test muslin for the bra. Don't you just love how the whole bra is just one piece of fabric? It definitely makes life easier!

I have cut out and sewn the darts in my silk version - the fabric I'm using? It's from an old set of silk charmeuse pajama pants that didn't survive my tossing and turning for long. The fabric has a bit of wear to it, but it's still pretty and feels heavenly on the skin. Waste not, want not - n'est pas?

For both your test muslin and the actual bra, you'll be sewing quite a few darts. Between my muslin, my adjusted muslin, and the bra in silk, that's 12 darts - 16 if you're lining the darn thing. So it helps to know a few things about sewing bust darts, and darts in general.

It's smart to start at the bottom and sew your way towards the tip, but here are a few more tips:

• For bust darts, adding a very slight curve at the tip of the dart will help the garment contour better to the roundness of your bust. See more about that here.

• At the tip of the dart, don't back-stitch, instead, pull the garment out from your sewing machine and leave a trail of threads long enough to tie a loose knot. Make sure that there are a few millimeters of ease between the knot and the dart.

My pin stealthily rusted onto my fabric, the horror!

•  Press your darts flat before pressing them open. This will help set the stitches in the fabric.

• And by far, my favorite tip for pressing my bust darts is to use an old bra! Fold the bra (the ones that are thickly padded are best) in half so that it supports itself and then cover it with a towel or press cloth.

The lovely little mound that it creates is vastly superior to my own pressing ham and perfect for pressing bra darts.

An old bra makes the perfect shape for pressing bra darts on.

So I've sewn my bust darts in the bra and now I'm going to take a short week-long break from sewing.

Pardon the wrinkles, I pressed the darts ok but the rest of the bra will just wrinkle again during handling, lining or binding so I don't even bother with the rest of it.

This coming weekend, I'm flying back to Nebraska to help my family manage the auction we're having to liquidate the family antique business. It was run primarily by my mother and with her now gone, none of us has the heart to continue with it. It's a very sad, but necessary part of adulthood, I suppose, letting go of the things you loved as a child. In this case, my sister and I grew up in our Mom's antique shop (home schooled and everything) and it will be awfully hard to say goodby to that chapter of our lives.
My wounds are still very raw from losing Mom only four months ago so this coming week will not be an easy thing to survive sober (though I'll be trying).

Wish me luck!

French Knickers Sew-Along... Everything in one place.

The time has come to wrap up my knickers sewing! I've only got 3 weeks until our things get packed up to be shipped back overseas and while that may seem like a lot of time, for an overseas move, it's just a moment.
Below I have summed up a list of the sew-along posts so that if you try the sew-along later (there's never any expiration date, I'm always here to answer your questions!) you have everything in one place.

1. Getting started.
2. Choosing your fabric. (With tips for stretch fabrics.)
3. Where do I buy my fabric?
4. Your first seams.
5. Ribbon trimming the leg openings.
6. Adding elastic to the waist.
7. Adding "Le Crotch" insert.
8. Trimming the legs with lace.
9. Embroidered Touches

• For those of you who have asked about sewing the knickers with a drawstring... keep in mind that they will be a bit bulky for undies after that, but that they would make great sleep shorts. To make these with a drawstring, simply add a 1" allowance to the top of the waist before cutting it out. Sew two small buttonholes in the center front, 1" apart on either side of the seam. Then sew the extra inch allowance into a casing and stitch down. Thread your ribbon or tie string through and voila!
• To add a lace inset, check out this older tutorial for the Pauline Sew-Along.
• For adding the perfect bow, check out this great tutorial by Sarah from Ohhh Lulu.

A Map to your Knickers!

 And of course, here are some of my finished knickers!

French Knickers in tencil knit jersey.

French Knickers in silk twill with ribbon trimmed legs.

French Knickers with lace trim.

How about you? For those of you who have had the time, how have your knickers turned out? What fabrics and trimmings have you used? Tried any neat variations I haven't mentioned here?

French Knickers Sew-Along... Embroidered Touches

Hello lovely readers. Today I want to chat a bit about finishing touches on your French Knickers... or any lingerie for that matter. Many of you know that I'm constantly inspired by my collection of vintage lingerie and lingerie patterns. My biggest source of inspiration is lingerie from the 1920's. I feel that the handwork details, fabrics used, and styles are all easily accessible to the modern seamstress.

There are no scary under-wires, boning, and not too many elastics to worry about. The styles are so simple to sew that more time and attention can be payed to tiny details like lace applique and embroidery.

1920's Lingerie Top Via Etsy shop The Paraders.

My goal in creating my own lingerie has always been to reach a point where I can skillfully make some beautiful, new or vintage-inspired pieces of lingerie for my own enjoyment using techniques that I've learned from my exploration of vintage pieces.

Here are just a few of the amazing pieces that inspire me to keep trying:

Vintage Camisole Via Etsy shop Rococo Vintage.

1950's Nightgown from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sigh... some day I'll be that good. Then I'll make something like the above and be too chicken to wear it in case I hurt it.

Tap panties from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I especially love the use of embroidering one's initials or name into beautiful handmade lingerie. So I decided to sign my work. I set to work in Photoshop with a basic fleur de lis, played around with size and fonts, and came up with a basic template that I could trace onto my fabric and embroider.

I used some transfer paper scraps (look for them at your local thrift shop, so handy!) over a scrap of satin, with my printed test image over that, and traced over it all with a pen.

Pardon the ratty fabric scrap and the horrible photo... I still have no lights in my studio!

 It's definitely a good idea to do a practice version first on the same fabric as your lingerie piece... my practice run was o.k., but I found that the blue silk embroidery thread I was using was just way too thick for my fabric. (I'm still learning! If you'd like to bombard me with embroidery tips, I'll take them gladly!)

Not too great, but it could have been worse :)

 I switched threads and with a bit more care this time, embroidered the same design (minus the center French knot) onto my lace and satin knickers from our last post. It came out much better!

I used a simple back stitch to embroider the whole design. I'm no pro so I won't preach at you about embroidery technique, but here is a great post at Sublime Stitching that shows you this super easy stitch.

And voila! This was really quite easy for a novice embroiderer myself so I strongly encourage you to try it for yourself! Embroidery is so soothing!

Do you plan on adding any other little touches to your French Knickers or other hand-made lingerie? Or do you have a favorite piece of clothing with a tiny, beautiful little embellishment that makes it just that much more dear?

French Knickers Sew Along... Let's add some lace!

Hello my lovely readers. The electrician hasn't made an appearace yet, but the sun did yesterday, just briefly, so I was able to get some photos taken so that I could walk you through trimming with lace.

I started by sewing a simple pair of the French knickers using some cream colored satin. I chose to use some vintage lace from my stash (originally acquired from my mom and her lovely shop).

My lace is about 1" wide (2.7 cm). Lace much wider than this might not sit right, and might look funny on your thighs. If you have some wider lace you'd like to try, test it out by pinning a length to one leg opening and see if it fits ok.

Since I'm using some rather old lace, here are some tried and true tips for sewing with vintage lace:

• start by gently hand washing your lace. If it survives a hand washing then chances are it's strong enough to be used in your project, worn, and gently washed in the future.
• carefully press you lace on low heat.
• examine the lace carefully for any hidden stains before you start sewing with it.
• if you have them, silk pins can help you secure more delicate lace to your fabric as you sew.

You'll need about 1 1/4 yards of lace (about 1 meter, 15 cm).

Start at the crotch seam and pin your lace, right side up to the outside of the knickers leg opening.
By starting at the crotch seam, we ensure that if there are any small mistakes at the finish, they'll be well concealed there.

This might just be me, but pinning like this, as opposed to perpendicularly, helps keep slippery fabrics in place.

When pinning the lace, the upper edge of the lace should be 3/8" from the edge, which is the seam/ hem allowance along this edge.

Reserve a 1/4" overlap on each lace end so that you have a seam allowance to join your two lace ends together.

Pin your lace ends right sides together, and then flip the lace over and lay it flat against the leg opening. Check to see if there is any excess, or if you need to adjust the lace at all.

As you can see here, the lace is the right length, but I'll need to move my lace seam over a bit to match the crotch seam. This only matters if you're super particular about things like this :)

Flip back to the wrong side of the knickers and lace, and hand stitch the lace ends together. A small overcasting or blanket stitch on the ends will finish it nicely.

Now finish pinning your lace in place at the seam, and get ready to stitch.

The best stitch for attaching lace to other fabrics is an applique or satin stitch. Check your sewing machine manual to see if you have one. If not, use a narrow, tight zig-zag stitch.

It's stitch #24 on my Bother HE-240

My stitch is the exact width of the narrow end running along the top of my lace. Stitching slowly, applique stitch the lace all the way around the leg opening.

My lace stitched to the leg opening.

 Now for the interesting bit! On the inside you need to trim the fabric away from the edge of your stitching. If you do this with the lace on the underside as in the photo below, then you have a really good chance of accidentally cutting into your lace too. It's an easy mistake to make.
Here's how to avoid it completely:

Make a vertical snip into the fabric to be trimmed off as in the photo above. This is your starting point.

Flip one end of the fabric up, and fold the lace underneath down so that the lace is folded to the right side of the knickers.

Now you can easily snip the excess fabric away right up to the applique stitch, without worrying about cutting into your lace.

My hem allowance trimmed away from the lace on the inside.

The lace edge from the outside.

And tada! You have a nice and clean lace edge for your knickers!

Here is my (almost) finished lace trimmed version of the Ma Cherie French Knickers.

What more do they need, you might ask? Why, my initials delicately embroidered into one of the edges, of course. More on that next time!